Re : £35k Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio | Spotted
Discussion
Actually just googled it - but this is from 3 years ago! 
https://www.carthrottle.com/post/we-now-have-proof...
https://www.carthrottle.com/post/we-now-have-proof...
mustdash said:
I posted on the FB page, but will post similar here.
I currently own a 2017 Monte Carlo blue Giulia Quad with *cough* 56k on the clock. I've owned the car since August. I came to Alfa from a Volvo V60 Polestar, and prior to that, a B7 RS4.
I'll start off by saying that I wasn't actually looking to buy one - I was invited along to a dealership opening with the promise of free food and a passenger ride in one (they had me at free food to be honest!). After the passenger ride, I was coerced in to a test drive a few days later.....
Before buying the car, I did a lot of research in to the reliability of them, because like a lot of posters on this threat, the old Alfa reliability tag was in my mind. I was also fully expecting the dealership experience to be woeful, as that appears to be the thing that lets the marque down. On my test drive the sales girl spent the 2 hours I was with her telling me that the horror stories were all old hat, and that they didn't suffer issues. Then as I pulled back in to the dealership it flashed up a fault (after some research: common issue with the front adaptive aero and an easy fix). My car has been back to my local dealer twice since I bought it - the first time for the rear screen demist / auto stop/start not working (a known fault). The first visit did not sort the issue, so it went back in a few weeks later (I anticipated it though, as the fix that was initially carried out seems to be the standard 'try thing A, if that doesn't work move on to thing B that is more expensive to fix'). On the morning of the second trip to the dealer, I noticed another issue and flagged it up - both the demist issue and the other issue (slightly warped fuel filler cap - again a known issue) were fixed within a day without any quibble.
So far, I can honestly say, the Alfa is the best car I've ever owned. The running costs are slightly cheaper than a 15 year old B7 RS4 (to be expected), and the Polestar - compared to the Polestar, tyres are cheaper, tax is cheaper, insurance is slightly cheaper, MPG is better. Servicing costs are roughly comparative, or maybe a little more on the Alfa (Alfa needs servicing every 9000 miles compared to every 12k, but have a 'cheap, 'medium' and 'expensive' service), brakes are cheaper (front disks and pads on the Volvo are nearly as expensive as disks / pads all round on the Alfa). Yes, the B pillars are a little wider than normal, but like any car and its individual foibles / design flaws, you get used to it and work around it - I'm 6'3" and 15 stone, so not quite as large as Clarkson, but certainly not a midget!). The performance of the car is fantastic, it sounds great and handles well (especially when not on the Corsa tyres fitted as standard). Talking of tyres, because they're a slightly odd size on the Alfa, tyre choice is limited, but not insurmountable. I can't really fault the interior plastics / trim either - more than acceptable for my needs (maybe I have low standards, who knows?) and after 56k no rattles or squeaks from inside the cabin. The Volvo was on a '64' plate and had done 52K when I sold it - the cabin was starting to rattle annoyingly from somewhere and had various squeaks etc
In comparison - the Polestar was a good, understated car. However, my dealership experience with 2 main dealers was woeful (probably because they're so rare that they don't see them very often) - from one dealership telling me in no uncertain terms that the dampers were electronically adjustable (they're not, they're manually adjustable) and then telling me the wrong amount of brake fluid to provide for a fluid change (uprated fluid for some track work), to the selling dealership replacing front disks 3 times in a 9 week period under warranty due to excessive warping but refusing to change the pads (the first time they said pads with 500 miles on were fine to put on to new disks), and then expecting me to stump up £460 each subsequent time for new pads (I didn't pay for the pads - after lots of arguing, they covered the cost of those too). By comparison, my Alfa dealer experience so far has been really good. My Alfa connect app has also stopped working (Volvo owners had a similar issue) - Alfa Customer Services in Italy have also been really good with it, and it's in on Friday for them to sort it (turn it off and back on again no doubt) so all in all, I can't at this stage complain.
My only real complaint (which I can't even complain about, because I knew about it before I bought it) is the rear seats not folding flat (this was changed on, I think, 2018 cars onwards, so the rear seats fold down), so I've lost a fair bit of practicality. I didn't think it would be an issue, but a couple of times I've wished I could have got more in the back of the car!
To anyone considering buying one - don't let the old Alfa stories put you off - go and have a look at one. Go and test drive one, but make sure you find a good dealer!
Your car looked great when a few of us met up a headed down to Sunday Service at MINI. Agree re the interior, it certainly looked / felt more than acceptable when I had a poke about your car.I currently own a 2017 Monte Carlo blue Giulia Quad with *cough* 56k on the clock. I've owned the car since August. I came to Alfa from a Volvo V60 Polestar, and prior to that, a B7 RS4.
I'll start off by saying that I wasn't actually looking to buy one - I was invited along to a dealership opening with the promise of free food and a passenger ride in one (they had me at free food to be honest!). After the passenger ride, I was coerced in to a test drive a few days later.....
Before buying the car, I did a lot of research in to the reliability of them, because like a lot of posters on this threat, the old Alfa reliability tag was in my mind. I was also fully expecting the dealership experience to be woeful, as that appears to be the thing that lets the marque down. On my test drive the sales girl spent the 2 hours I was with her telling me that the horror stories were all old hat, and that they didn't suffer issues. Then as I pulled back in to the dealership it flashed up a fault (after some research: common issue with the front adaptive aero and an easy fix). My car has been back to my local dealer twice since I bought it - the first time for the rear screen demist / auto stop/start not working (a known fault). The first visit did not sort the issue, so it went back in a few weeks later (I anticipated it though, as the fix that was initially carried out seems to be the standard 'try thing A, if that doesn't work move on to thing B that is more expensive to fix'). On the morning of the second trip to the dealer, I noticed another issue and flagged it up - both the demist issue and the other issue (slightly warped fuel filler cap - again a known issue) were fixed within a day without any quibble.
So far, I can honestly say, the Alfa is the best car I've ever owned. The running costs are slightly cheaper than a 15 year old B7 RS4 (to be expected), and the Polestar - compared to the Polestar, tyres are cheaper, tax is cheaper, insurance is slightly cheaper, MPG is better. Servicing costs are roughly comparative, or maybe a little more on the Alfa (Alfa needs servicing every 9000 miles compared to every 12k, but have a 'cheap, 'medium' and 'expensive' service), brakes are cheaper (front disks and pads on the Volvo are nearly as expensive as disks / pads all round on the Alfa). Yes, the B pillars are a little wider than normal, but like any car and its individual foibles / design flaws, you get used to it and work around it - I'm 6'3" and 15 stone, so not quite as large as Clarkson, but certainly not a midget!). The performance of the car is fantastic, it sounds great and handles well (especially when not on the Corsa tyres fitted as standard). Talking of tyres, because they're a slightly odd size on the Alfa, tyre choice is limited, but not insurmountable. I can't really fault the interior plastics / trim either - more than acceptable for my needs (maybe I have low standards, who knows?) and after 56k no rattles or squeaks from inside the cabin. The Volvo was on a '64' plate and had done 52K when I sold it - the cabin was starting to rattle annoyingly from somewhere and had various squeaks etc
In comparison - the Polestar was a good, understated car. However, my dealership experience with 2 main dealers was woeful (probably because they're so rare that they don't see them very often) - from one dealership telling me in no uncertain terms that the dampers were electronically adjustable (they're not, they're manually adjustable) and then telling me the wrong amount of brake fluid to provide for a fluid change (uprated fluid for some track work), to the selling dealership replacing front disks 3 times in a 9 week period under warranty due to excessive warping but refusing to change the pads (the first time they said pads with 500 miles on were fine to put on to new disks), and then expecting me to stump up £460 each subsequent time for new pads (I didn't pay for the pads - after lots of arguing, they covered the cost of those too). By comparison, my Alfa dealer experience so far has been really good. My Alfa connect app has also stopped working (Volvo owners had a similar issue) - Alfa Customer Services in Italy have also been really good with it, and it's in on Friday for them to sort it (turn it off and back on again no doubt) so all in all, I can't at this stage complain.
My only real complaint (which I can't even complain about, because I knew about it before I bought it) is the rear seats not folding flat (this was changed on, I think, 2018 cars onwards, so the rear seats fold down), so I've lost a fair bit of practicality. I didn't think it would be an issue, but a couple of times I've wished I could have got more in the back of the car!
To anyone considering buying one - don't let the old Alfa stories put you off - go and have a look at one. Go and test drive one, but make sure you find a good dealer!
Why does no one else other than Audi (and Mercedes) manage to flog fast estates? I know BMW made an M5 touring and sold about 3.
Another satisfied customer/owner here - just coming up to 3 years and 25k miles from new without a single issue. Carbon seats were the option I'm happiest with, the stories of the B-pillar being in the "wrong" place are just Clarkson searching for something bad to say (before he allegedly bought one) - I'm 6'3" and not once have I thought "ooh, I can't get in".
This is serious metal for the money. Let your heart rule your head...
This is serious metal for the money. Let your heart rule your head...
Very nice and if I was in the market for this kind of car it would be way above an M3/C63/RS4. The Germans scream rich person wanting to show off no matter how competent they are but this says car person with cash and taste. If I was particularly bothered about image this would be miles ahead, and it is oh so pretty.
Court_S said:
Why does no one else other than Audi (and Mercedes) manage to flog fast estates? I know BMW made an M5 touring and sold about 3.
It's not just "fast" estates, it's estates in general. Jaguar didn't want to make another one for the XF, but eventually they did. There is nog Giula estate in general. No Lexus estate either.The only market for estates is Europe, so rather limited. I think for others it just isn't worth the bother making an estate.
Why the M5 estate did poorly vs the E63 and RS6 I have no idea. I've seen a lot more C63 estates than I can remember seeing a sedan.
I really, really want one of these instead of the usual M/AMG ..... but the thought of getting one now on the brink of falling outside warranty is a bit too scary for what is supposed to be a daily. Car and Driver absolutely adored theirs but their car was plagued and spent 80 days in the dealership during their ownership. If Alfa couldn't get it right for one of the biggest car mags in the world then I doubt I'll have any more luck https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a23145269/alf...
fblm said:
I really, really want one of these instead of the usual M/AMG ..... but the thought of getting one now on the brink of falling outside warranty is a bit too scary for what is supposed to be a daily. Car and Driver absolutely adored theirs but their car was plagued and spent 80 days in the dealership during their ownership. If Alfa couldn't get it right for one of the biggest car mags in the world then I doubt I'll have any more luck https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a23145269/alf...
It is such a shame as these are the most beautiful saloon i can think of and i so wanted none of the issues but i've heard all the complaints listed in that article too. ZesPak said:
It's not just "fast" estates, it's estates in general. Jaguar didn't want to make another one for the XF, but eventually they did. There is nog Giula estate in general. No Lexus estate either.
The only market for estates is Europe, so rather limited. I think for others it just isn't worth the bother making an estate.
Why the M5 estate did poorly vs the E63 and RS6 I have no idea. I've seen a lot more C63 estates than I can remember seeing a sedan.
The 3 series seems pretty popular in touring form be it a 318 or a 340 though. Same for the 5 series. Yet they won’t / don’t make an M estate. The only market for estates is Europe, so rather limited. I think for others it just isn't worth the bother making an estate.
Why the M5 estate did poorly vs the E63 and RS6 I have no idea. I've seen a lot more C63 estates than I can remember seeing a sedan.
Audi really have cornered the fast estate market though. The current C63 looks pretty good in estate form, much nicer than the saloon which is minging.
fblm said:
I really, really want one of these instead of the usual M/AMG ..... but the thought of getting one now on the brink of falling outside warranty is a bit too scary for what is supposed to be a daily. Car and Driver absolutely adored theirs but their car was plagued and spent 80 days in the dealership during their ownership. If Alfa couldn't get it right for one of the biggest car mags in the world then I doubt I'll have any more luck https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a23145269/alf...
Interesting as both Evo's & Car mags long termers proved totally reliable. But I agree I'd have to run one with a water tight warranty, hence my query above.Imagine finally being able to get a superb Alfa and it disappointing!
gtechrob said:
just gone past 20k on my 2018 car. touch wood - no issues to report of so far.
did a silverstone full GP opentrack track day with it. suffice to say - it is flipping fast.
best thing in my book is the compliance of its ride on poor road surfaces.
Good to hear. Did the brakes hold up ok ?did a silverstone full GP opentrack track day with it. suffice to say - it is flipping fast.
best thing in my book is the compliance of its ride on poor road surfaces.
julian64 said:
I really wanted one of these. Then I went for a test drive.
Its was perfect apart from the fact that I couldn't see anything when I looked right or left. I dunno whether I was the wrong size for the car or what but every time I looked either way, instead of a window I just saw a dirty great big door pillar. Lifesavers were non-existent for the whole trip and pulling out into traffic meant I had to lean right forward to peer around it.
Bizzare problem especially as no one else seems to have had this problem with the car.
Nice car to drive but I couldn't live with that. Obviously I'm an odd shape
Powerfully built Director albeit very short?Its was perfect apart from the fact that I couldn't see anything when I looked right or left. I dunno whether I was the wrong size for the car or what but every time I looked either way, instead of a window I just saw a dirty great big door pillar. Lifesavers were non-existent for the whole trip and pulling out into traffic meant I had to lean right forward to peer around it.
Bizzare problem especially as no one else seems to have had this problem with the car.
Nice car to drive but I couldn't live with that. Obviously I'm an odd shape
TX.
FocusRS3 said:
fblm said:
I really, really want one of these instead of the usual M/AMG ..... but the thought of getting one now on the brink of falling outside warranty is a bit too scary for what is supposed to be a daily. Car and Driver absolutely adored theirs but their car was plagued and spent 80 days in the dealership during their ownership. If Alfa couldn't get it right for one of the biggest car mags in the world then I doubt I'll have any more luck https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a23145269/alf...
It is such a shame as these are the most beautiful saloon i can think of and i so wanted none of the issues but i've heard all the complaints listed in that article too. Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff